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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27321490">Night Shift on the Bridge</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vorta_Scholar/pseuds/Vorta_Scholar'>Vorta_Scholar</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek: The Next Generation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Friendship, Late Night Conversations, Night shift - Freeform, Trektober 2020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:54:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>791</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27321490</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vorta_Scholar/pseuds/Vorta_Scholar</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Data and Beverly work the night shift together and have a conversation about circadian rhythms and internal chronometers.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Beverly Crusher &amp; Data</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Night Shift on the Bridge</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For Trektober 2020, Day 31</p>
<p>Prompt: Night Shift</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Data often volunteered for the night shift. He did not require sleep the same way his fellow crew members did, so it only made sense for him to take over when the rest of the senior officers would need to rest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Most nights when he was on the bridge, it was just him. Some nights, the young Denobulan ensign would assist, when she was not needed elsewhere, as Denobulans also notably needed much less rest than humans did. Tonight, however, Dr. Crusher had opted to join him. She was seated in the Captain’s chair, and he was in Commander Riker’s seat, as they simply kept an eye on the various monitors.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Doctor, I noted when I was reading the ship’s status reports a few nights ago that you have the third highest number of night shift hours on the bridge, behind myself and Ensign Anchusa,” Data said. “Why is that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, I enjoy it,” she said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Would you not rather sleep at night like the others?” he asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I get to sleep most nights,” she said. “But the nights when I’m here, I usually go to sleep as soon as I leave in the morning.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is it not strange to you to sleep in the morning?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not really,” she said. “You see, in space, time feels much different. You don’t have sunrise and sunset to tell you when it’s morning and when it’s night, or when you should wake up and go to sleep.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Geordi told me that humans have a natural internal chronometer,” Data said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Beverly chuckled. “Yes, we have a circadian rhythm, sort of like an internal clock. Our bodies run based on a twenty-four hour day,” she said. “But that doesn’t always translate to ‘go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning.’”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I see,” he said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Data, what does your internal chronometer tell you to do?” she asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It does not tell me to do anything,” he said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, what does it do?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It tells me that right now it is two hundred hours, fourteen minutes, thirty-seven seconds,” he said. “It logs at what time certain things occur relating to my various systems. I can choose to sync it with any timezone on any planet within the Federation, and with several non-Federation planets.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh,” she said. “That’s got to be very convenient.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not always,” he said. “Just because, for instance, I could align my chronometer with a twenty-six hour Bajoran day, does not mean I would have any kind of advantage on Bajor or with its people besides knowing the time. It would not make communication or any other task any easier. Nor would it make any task more difficult.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Perhaps if you had biological needs like eating or sleeping, though, that would be different,” she said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hm,” he intoned, nodding thoughtfully. “Perhaps you are right. My internal chronometer would serve not only to tell me what time it was, but also would function in tandem with those needs.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just like in humans,” she said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He frowned slightly. “Yes,” he agreed, and then, as if he needed a sudden change in subject, looked down at the monitor on the armrest of the Captain’s chair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Beverly smiled sadly as she watched him. He was a machine. She had just voiced that fairly clearly. But she couldn’t help but feel he was more than that, especially when he reacted in such ways to such simple observations. He wanted to be more than that. He wanted to be like her, like Jean-Luc and Will and Geordi. He wanted to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>human.</span>
  </em>
  <span> And constantly, people were reminding him that he wasn’t, even if, like her, they meant no harm by it but only meant to confirm a curiosity.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sighed and looked down at the same monitor he was looking at.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Looks like everything’s going as it should,” she said. “What do you think?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded. “Yes,” he said. “All within normal parameters.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good,” she said, and she brought the back of her hand up to her mouth to hide a yawn.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Doctor,” Data said softly. “If you would like to rest for a while, I can continue to monitor the bridge.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I shouldn’t,” she said, shaking her head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“As you wish.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looked forward at the viewscreen and watched the stars moving past as they passed through the dark, vast expanse. It was peaceful. Maybe too peaceful. She yawned again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Doctor?” Data said, looking at her again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright,” she chuckled. “I think I’ll just rest my eyes for a bit. Wake me in twenty minutes?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course,” he said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you, Data.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded, smiling slightly. She smiled back before leaning back and closing her eyes as Data kept an eye on the viewscreen in front of them.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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